Major bladder cancer breakthrough as half hour scan could help patients be treated almost TWICE as fast
A HALF-HOUR scan could help bladder cancer patients be treated almost twice as fast, a groundbreaking study has found.
Using an MRI check to help tackle tumours — instead of invasive surgery — cut the time it took to start treatment from 14 weeks to just seven.
Normally, patients would go straight for an op to enable surgeons to target tumours or decide on the best treatment.
But waits for surgery can be a month or more, while an MRI scan could take place in just two weeks.
The study also found scans were better for working out the correct care.
And about 20 per cent of people ended up not needing the surgical procedure, which involves a tube the width of a finger being inserted through the urethra.
Research published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found that changing the method meant time to treatment fell from 98 days to 53 days.
Study author Prof Rik Bryan, of the University of Birmingham, said: “We think we can cut out a step to make things quicker and reduce side effects.
“Half an hour in a scanner can almost halve a patient’s time to treatment.
“Even if they end up having the same therapy we found they had it significantly quicker.
“Other evidence shows bladder cancer patients treated within three months of diagnosis have very significantly improved outcomes and this new approach brought the average to well below three months.”
What causes bladder cancer?
The exact causes are unknown, but there are a number of things that can increase your risk factor.
Like with many cancers, bladder cancer appear to be caused by exposure to harmful substances, which lead to abnormal changes in the bladder’s cells over many years.
Tobacco smoke is a common cause and it’s estimated that more than one in three cases of bladder cancer are caused by smoking.
Contact with certain chemicals previously used in manufacturing is also known to cause bladder cancer.
However, these substances have since been banned.